unified, democratic syria in which all citizens are protected and a future of this kind cannot inlewd al-assad. >> [inaudible] >> that's correct. we provide significant assistance to the syrian people, we proside significant, not lethal, assistance to the opposition. but our position on providing lethal aid has not changed. >> to foe low up -- >> i've got folks in the back. >> defense secretary suggested the syrian government has preparations of chemical weapons and the administration is not as concerned about this as they were last week, is that accurate? and what has changed? >> i'm not going to get into assessments beyond what secretary of defense pa net -- panetta said. i would simply reiterate our clear warning to the assaad regime about the potential use of or proliferation of weapons and that warning was made by the president and that warning stands. we take this very seriously and were the assaad regime to unwisely make the wrong choice here, there would be consequences. >> jay, the incoming and outgoing leaders on the house foreign affairs committee have written a letter calling on th